Chapter 0120
Kane
+25 BONUS
Guilt burns in my chest. I have no desire to give in to King Peter’s demands, especially if it endangered my family. Despite all that has happened between us, Lex is my brother. I should not give him up.
“I don’t want to send you as a hostage,” I tell my brother. “I’m going to refuse King Peter, and he can deal with it-”
“Stop,” Lex interrupts me. “You’re just prolonging the inevitable.”
“Lex-”
“King Peter will never stop. This man is looking for any excuse to come after you. If you’re seen refusing to concede on old traditions, you’re going to look worse in the eyes of the other vampire kingdoms.” “I don’t care what they think.”
“You should. You used to. That’s what made you a good king. You thought about what was best for your kingdom above all else.” Lex sighs, looking wear
than I’ve ever seen him. “And it’s my turn to be the
same way. I’ve been selfish long enough.”
“Lex, if you become a hostage, I can’t protect you,” I point out. “King Peter could decide not to honor the agreement and have you tortured and executed before I can even try to help you.”
“That’s the point of this. It’s a big game of chicken,” he replies, “You have no one else you can send. Anybody else besides me, Mother, and Emory aren’t important enough. It has to be me.”
I stare at my brother. His face is as familiar to me as my own. I remember the boy he was, always following me around the castle. I’ve seen the man he became, stuck in a perpetual adolescence with no real purpose. Today, I can see glimpses of a better man he could become, and I feel a swell of pride.
“If you’re sure.”
Lex nods, his expression serious. “I am. Let me serve my kingdom in the only way I can.”
“There’s a chance you might not come back.”
My little brother has worried, frustrated, and at times, consoled me. If he never returns, what would my life be like? I can’t quite picture it.
“I know,” Lex declares. “But that’s part of the risk, and I’ve always liked my odds.”
Emory
I call Coit once a week to keep up to date with Moonraker pack and wha’ts happening there. Coit seems to be putting out fires when he isn’t bogged down by the day–to–day minutiae of running a pack. He complains to me about the amount of paperwork he has to go through, and he can see why our father hadn’t bothered with this and instead dumped it on his Beta to take care of. Jace Kincaid had been an “Alpha in anything by name with the amount of work he had done behind the scenes to keep the pack
running.
+25 BONUS
Chapter 0120
“Darius suggested hiring an accountant to help us with all of this,” Coit says. “His dad had hired one off the books who he paid out of his own pocket which is really unfair.”
“I agree. That shouldn’t have been Jace’s responsibility. We should hire an account, officially on the books. Maybe Jace can suggest a good one.”
“I’ll talk to him about it. I cannot get my head around all these numbers. I barely passed algebra in school.”
“Hire a professional and stop worrying about it.”
“Will do, boss.” He snorts. “Sorry. I mean Alpha.”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to being called Alpha. I was brought up to be one, but it’s different to actually be called that. And then, with the stunt that bastard pulled…..
“That’s Father,” we both say in conclusion. I roll my eyes.
“He’s such an asshole,” Coit states. “The more of his mistakes and damage to this pack I uncover, the angrier at him I get. I can’t get my head around the kind of person he was pretending to be and who he really is.”
“He fooled all of us.”
I loved my father. I worshiped the ground he walked on. He was this hero Alpha trying to fight off the evil vampires who were trying to hurt our pack, but it had all been lies upon lies. In reality, he is a greedy coward who only ever cares about himself. The man and father I thought he was had never existed.